Au Revoir

Tonight I am bidding farewell to two places that rocked my early 20’s. Two local bars that were side-by-side were torn down this week; O’Aces and The River Rock. In 1999, when I was 19, the corner of Queen and Gore was the place to be. Many fun nights were spent at these two places. The Rock, as we called it, was where I celebrated my 19th birthday. I wish I had some good stories to share, but honestly I don’t remember. I know I had fun though. We always had fun dancing and whatnot inside and there were always happenings outside on the street afterward. Either a fight breaking out or buying street meat from the sausage vendor. Neither a good decision on anyone’s part.

It’s been years since either was a ‘cool’ place to hang out. I am not sure if it remained a place younger people went or not. I’m guessing not, since they tore it down. However, the last time I went to O’Aces (Dec 2006) was quite a memorable one, seeing as it landed me a trip to the hospital.

And it all started with Motley Crue...


My sister Amy, who was in her prime teen years in the 80’s when an entire can of hairspray was needed to hold up your bangs, LOVES Motley Crue. Loves them. I don’t think you can even imagine the level of excitement she reached when they announced Motley Crue was coming to town for a concert. She called me at work screaming. She sent me an email that I wish I had saved to share here. While I liked the band to an extent – meaning I had a song or two on my iPod – it didn’t hold a candle to her passion for them. So after joining the VIP fan club online and pulling some strings I am not at liberty to discuss, she scored us front row tickets. Now THAT was something I was excited about. Front row at a rock concert!

While Amy only had eyes for Nikki Sixx, I was quite looking forward to seeing Tommy Lee up close and personal. So, a group of us went to the concert and had a great time. I loved it. We danced and sang and probably lost some of our hearing. Amy was pretty excited that Nikki Sixx spit blood (fake blood) all over her and my brother-in-law even managed to snag Tommy Lee’s drumstick when he threw it in the crowd. I spent a large portion of the night staring at Mick Mars, who was about 12 inches from me. The cool security guard ‘didn’t see’ the camera I had hidden so I even got some great pictures.

After the concert ended, we went to a local bar for a few drinks. Amy and my brother-in-law wanted to call it a night as they had to work in the morning. However, I didn’t and was raring to go. I convinced them to drop me off on Gore St, though they didn't want to leave me there. I failed to mention Gore Street is not exactly a place you should be hanging out at night alone. But I knew a lot of people going out after the concert and convinced them I would be fine – that I would meet up with some people I knew. Which I did. So, no big deal, right? Wrong.

Skipping ahead and leaving out some useless details, there came a point in the night that I quickly needed to find a ride home. But being a busy night and all – I couldn’t get a cab. Standing outside this creep-o bar called “Glow” I looked down the street towards O’Aces and saw a cab pull up. So I started to run. It was winter – the roads were slushy and icy and I was wearing high heeled boots that no one should run in the snow in. But I made it – and I quickly jumped in the cab. It was a mini-van and I got in the very back seat. Other people got in as well. We were going to share it and I didn’t care - I just wanted to get home. But the cabbie turned to us and said we had to get out of the cab – it was already reserved for someone else. Damn.

The next move I made was the turning point in my “fun” evening. Instead of gracefully exiting the cab like a lady, I made the wise choice to jump from the back of the van onto the street. The slushy, icy street. I somehow fell out of the cab and twisted my ankle at a 90 degree angle and cushioned the weight of my body on top of it. As I laid there on the road I knew something bad had happened. I was alone and thought I broke my ankle. I couldn’t get up. A crowd of people stood outside the door of O’Aces smoking cigarettes and stared at me – I desperately wanted to get up and run. But I could not. The only thing running through my head at that point was “Don’t cry. Don’t cry, Sara. Don’t cry”. FINALLY this guy walked out of the bar and looked at me, then looked at everyone staring at me and said “Is no one going to help this poor girl up?”. And then he kindly helped me up. After insisting ‘I was fine’ I proceeded to the corner to shed some tears in private. Then this guy I know, Andy, walked by and saw me in the corner. Seeing my frazzled state – he insisted I join him in O’Aces for a shot or two. He even convinced me to dance. And wouldn’t you know it – after those shots my foot didn’t even hurt - Funny how that works.

At some point in time I ran into my brother’s friend and she drove me home. When I finally got inside I took off my boot and my ankle ballooned to the size of a cantaloupe. I woke up my roommate Dana to show her and she got me some ice. In the end, I had to call my mom to bring me to the hospital. Hours later, after some x-rays, it was determined I severely sprained my ankle.

Following the incident, when people saw my crutches and asked what happened, I gracefully replied that I ‘slipped in the snow’. I thought it sounded much better than “I had a few drinks and fell out of a cab after the Motley Crue concert”.

I guess you could say it was a memorable farewell to O’Aces.

Au Revoir O’Aces and The Rock. Thanks for the memories….

Tommy Lee

Nikki Sixx

This was when Nikki was shooting blood out of his mouth on the crowd. Weird, I know.

Favourite of the Day: Today is Canada Day!!

Happy Canada Day Everyone!! (but especially to my Canadian friends living in Michigan, Texas, South Carolina & Wisconsin)